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Wed 11/05/2008
The Fear of Leaving What's Become Comfortable
Topic: Making Changes
When teenagers even were given the privilege of occasionally visiting another internment camp, the "imprisoned" Japanese youth of the 1940's sometimes felt uncomfortable. Their worlds, built in just those three short years before they were allowed to begin returning to what was left for them on the West Coast, had given them the greatest sense of security. Captivity was familiar, in a way that it was for the captives in Egypt long ago, when they were suddenly allowed to go free--even if it was into the desert--to begin a new life. Like the children of Israel, the 19th century Japanese captives had little in their possession. And little to return home to. That was life for them in the "land of the free." It reminds me of what is psychologically ripped from the hearts and minds of most survivors who have experienced "imprisonment" without an acknowledgement of this, from the community of faith. The Japanese were essentially told that they were "welcome" to go back to their old homes. The fact so often ignored by others was that they had no status, no businesses, no property. It had all been stolen. They could not go back and be the people they once were. They were even afraid for their physical safety, and they certainly couldn't blend in, due to their stark appearance. Their fears were not paranoia. There was plenty of prejudice. It had grown immensely in a world where everyone had experienced some degree of trauma. They all had burrs up, even the people of highest character. For that's what trauma does to all of us, if left unresolved, without having a very clear picture of what is real and what is likely to be lurking nearby. When I think of what these people endured and how they managed to go on, I am in awe. What an inspiration! How did they even consider being kind to others who had not experienced what they had? How is it that most of them went on to push for American citizenship? Who would want to be a part of a land after such personal atrocities had been dished out? I wonder what kept them from saying: "America! It needs to just be destroyed! It's just full of a bunch of hypocrits that we can never trust!" The next generation got a little bit of financial compensation, provided they'd lived long enough. It didn't come until 1988, though, when "each surviving internee" was granted $20,000 and provided a national apology for a "grave injustice." Oh, that we recognize within ourselves the capacity we have for destroying others! Oh, that we recognize our capacity to overcome the destruction that others have put upon us, unknowingly or not!
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CST
Tue 11/04/2008
The Pain of Rejection
Topic: coping
Today is election day in the U. S. Unlike many days when we sit around navel-gazing, and many think "we are the most important nation on earth," the world really IS watching us today. For it knows that so many things in their future can depend upon the decision we make, in choosing our next President. Please do not forget to go to the polls! Whoever gets elected, we must look to the future and get on with life. Even as we focus on the future, museums and stories from the past are important. They help us understand our deepest pain or longings. Richard "Babe" Karasawa, as a volunteer at the Japanese American National Museum (see http://www.janm.org/ ) , came to understand why he had always felt that he had to be an extra good American. It was driven into him at childhood. Not to be "extra good" came from the common syndrome of Japanese during internment. That of being a "rejected American." Perhaps, due to trauma of abuse in your past, you have come to share the feeling of having been rejected. That feeling was so frequently mine after being cast out for speaking the truth to my closest friends and colleagues. Perhaps it is what drives you to be the best you can be at anything you undertake today. Or maybe you've just given up and developed a mediocre set of goals. It can go either way. Or it can go a third, the way that is healthiest: Just be all you can be, in your own little world, without busting a gut in the process.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CST
Mon 11/03/2008
For the Children
Topic: coping
Survivors often have to come to terms with not being able to do anything about the past. Even about having the past validated or acknowledged. Often, as hard it is, faster this can be realized, the faster one can build a personal future that's far different from the past. The Japanese parents who were shipped off to internments camps in the early 1940's, along with their children, knew there were many things they could not change. Their personal, property assets were ripped from them. Yet they were determined to give their children childhoods that were as happy as possible, filled with a sense of strong community, knowing how to cope when everything familiar is pulled away. They planted crops, established schools (even without furniture initially), kept things immaculate, and had dances. Demonstrating to their oppressors that they could not possibly take away everything. Each of us needs to take stock frequently, to live with gratitude, with our eyes on the things that really matter most for the future. Certainly not forgetting the children of today and tomorrow.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 7:44 AM CST
Sun 11/02/2008
When "Enemies" Go the Millionth Mile
Topic: Power
Have you ever noticed how often people who have been ostrasized or shamed, for whatever reason, end up going the extra mile to live by their ideals? Of course, it can go the other way, too. Certainly, even when the larger group of an ostrasized bunch of people stay true to ethical principles and values, a few people in the group may become violent or undertake illegal or unethical actions that can end up backfiring because the prejudice is simply increased as the group is conveniently stereotyped as being something that the majority in that group are not. This may have been the case with the Japanese who had sought citizenship previous to being shipped off through the internment program. The internment program, we now recognize, was totally absurd. Especially since it escalated after the U. S. victory at Midway (June, 42 or a full 6 months after Pearl Harbor). Instead of the temporary arrangements that took 1500 people from San Diego on trains to an unknown destination, without explanation back the previous April, the victims were taken to permanent internment camps in the summer AFTER Midway, when it was already nearly impossible to consider these people could be a threat in any way!! What is amazing to me is how the peace-loving people, many who had never set foot in Japan, continued to revere the soldiers, the U. S. A., and what it stood for. Despite the prejudice that had never allowed them to even become United States citizens! As a whole, the imprisoned innocents refused to abandon their belief system. They continued to love and support one another, and eventually they worked to become citizens. Perhaps many of them were able to do this because of people like Ms. Clara Breed--people who stood by their own principles and the treasured values that they shared with the victims. Perhaps someday our grandchildren will be reading about the Breed's of the early 20th century--people who were not victims, but empathized with those who were. That's true advocacy!
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CDT
Fri 10/31/2008
Freaky "Faith"
Topic: Aliens
Halloween Day is a good time to remember that this holiday is supposed to be about nothing but fun. It's also a good time to focus on how often we turn, or have been turned by others, into a "freak" when we speak the truth in love. The truth, as we understand it, that is. When it comes to doing so within the institutional church or to people who want to defend and protect the institution from facing the consequencs of it's past or present acts of discrimination and prejudice, we can very quickly find ourselves betrayed as freaks or monsters or even satanic! Good to remember that no matter what masks people place on the messengers, we know that the masks and labels are no more the reality of who we are than the trick-or-treaters coming to our door this evening. It's also important to remember to be careful that we do not put monster masks on others, too. For we do not know for certain what is in their hearts or behind their actions. We can only make an educated guess through the smokescreens of our own prejudices. Beware of the people you consider monsters or freaks. In the dark--especially right at dusk--we may fail to recognize that some of them are insecure children underneath the mask. Missing the opportunity to contribute to important changes that embrace the true freedom of Christianity. Happy Halloween on this tricky Friday!
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CDT
Thu 10/30/2008
The Exclusion Law
Topic: Aliens
Back to the World War II treatment of people of Japanese descent..... I love to study the journeys of oppressed people. They stand as warnings to me, as one of the privileged who didn't go through some particular type of oppression. Or as one who has known plenty of oppression myself. Either through personal infliction of persecution or discrimination. Or because I have witnessed it up close because of my connections with others who have. A couple of days ago, I wrote something that wasn't true in this blog. The people in this story were NOT Japanese-Americans. That's what their ancestors may be called today if they stayed and became American citizens. These people, back in the 1940's, unlike other immigrants who had come to America, were victims of an unjust law. It was an anti-Asian exclusion law. It was based on paranoia and bigotry--two factors that often go hand in hand, as I'm sure you've noticed. What arrogance! Bringing to mind some current issues in American policy today. Including heavy-handed treatment of people who are "profiled" so that they give up rights that the rest of us have, because of their association or religion or race. Clara Breed inspires us to befriend the oppressed and persecuted, in our speech and actions, whenever possible, refusing to rush to judgment. She reminds us to see the souls of the sufferers, not so that we can convert them but in order to comfort and protect the freedoms of all concerned.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 8:27 AM CDT
Wed 10/29/2008
Good Grief
Topic: spirituality
Getting news this morning of Wilma's death wasn't a total shock to me. My mother, who still prefers to write letters over all forms of communication with relatives, wrote of the failing health of her 90-year-old friend just last week. Wilma went peacefully, in the wee hours of the morning. She was alone in her room, in her own bed, with her older daughter sleeping in another room of the house. The news came in a very impersonal way, but that wasn't a problem for me. Her younger daughter, a very close friend in my growing-up years, somehow had my husband's e-mail address in her address book, instead of mine. Fortunately, he saw it and called it to my attention immediately. Wilma's death put me immediately into a process of good grief. She had a very good life, full of much happiness. And she spread that happiness to many. Her older daughter in a retired psychologist who does a lot of volunteer work these days. Her younger an outstanding professional pianist. Her son, the baby of the family, who was a dear playmate despite the fact that he served me right on one occasion in my teens, by holding me down long enough to rub Vaseline in my hair when I wouldn't stop annoying him, is today following in his father's footsteps as a very successful businessman. All are testaments of their mother's watchcare. Wilma had a voice that was like music when she spoke--even when she was firm or needed to raise it. She was a woman of great confidence in her ability to set limits, to the point that I would not have dared question those limits or do anything to displease her. Her death stands in sharp contrast to a lot of griefs I've sustained in my life when friends or family made decisions that had repercussions that brought grief of a different flavor. She leaves behind so many intangible gifts and an internal voice that will never die for me, as long as I live. She was one of several women who have helped to shape my thinking and the way I view the world. All of them such blessings! It's still grief I'm experiencing. Yet this is the Charlie Brown variety that has my heart feeling light and grateful.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 11:15 AM CDT
Tue 10/28/2008
Priorities in the Midst of Limited Resources
Topic: coping
When such luxuries as freedom and voice are taken, the number of choices a person has are seriously limited. The focus needs to turn toward taking stock of what remains, especially the things nobody can take away. Once the re-assessment of resources and needs has taken place, how one decides to invest time and energy is up for evaluation. At least, this is the process for the healthiest people. There is an alternative. Choosing it leads to depression, despondency, and more limitations. The alternative being to focus, instead, on what one has lost--obsessing endlessly, becoming more and more furious, robbing one's self of the precious thing we call life, even as life in big chunks passes the victim by. I've read several of the letters to Clara Breed, the young librarian who chose to reach out to Japanese-Americans who were unfairly sent to internment camps. It seems that the young people have succeeded in forming a support group. They talk about their inconveniences--being moved frequently, living in uncertainty and crowded conditions, not being able to stay as clean as they wish to do (yet pouring much of their energy into doing so), and not being able to get tasty food. Oh, how they miss sugar! Yet you can almost hear them giggling and chattering, as they appreciate the small things and figure out how to cope. As they prioritize their resources, most of which are dwindling, they are most grateful for Ms. Breed's gifts that consist mostly of books. Books! A sign of wealth that cannot be easily taken from us today, no matter what the state of lesser riches like the stock market or our personal bank accounts. Ms. Breed, the librarian, knew this. Her gift to those who had lost their freedom, even in this "land of the free" is a strong reminder for all of us today, no matter what we have suffered.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 8:33 AM CDT
Mon 10/27/2008
The Power of Voices Sustained by an Advocate
Topic: Power
At the time of Pearl Harbor (1941), there were 110,000 people of Japanese descent who were immediately considered people to be feared, simply because of their ancestry. They were guilty by association. Just as many survivors of abuse are considered to be, despite the fact that the sole blame for the atrocities lies with the perpetrators. We can gain insight into the importance of the voices of the innocent because one wise and caring woman, who was the librarian at the school where many of the children had been attending, before being abruptly shipped to internment camps. Her name was Clara Breed. Clara went to the train station to see her students off. At the time of that sorrowful departure, she placed in their hands self-addressed, stamped post cards and urged them to keep in touch. The collection grew to 250 pieces of mail, many of them now available at http://www.janm.org/collections/clara-breed-collection/ Over the next few days, I plan to be elaborating on this important work of Ms. Breed and her students. All to show the power of the individual voice and the need for each of us to do all we can to encourage communication from people who, for whatever reason, have had their voices squelched from the view of the masses of people who are more privileged. At least, privileged because of greater power and wealth, which seems to be the way most of us define "privilege."
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 1:56 PM CDT
Sun 10/26/2008
Understanding Grace
Topic: spirituality
Ron and I had supper with a great friend last night. He's a survivor who also happens to be a very spiritually-minded Quaker minister. In the course of our free-flowing conversation, he mentioned a survivor to whom he had been a support person for several years. Sadly, he'd recently received word of her sudden, untimely death from natural causes. The one who informed him commented that the woman had, sadly, never been able to experience the grace of God. To which my friend replied that he rejoiced that she was, at least, now experiencing the grace that God had been trying to extend to her all of her life. That's how he understands grace. I thought that was beautiful, yet can only be comprehended by a small percentage of people. May the grace and peace that comes from deep within, connected to the higher power that you understand today, be yours. Thereby connecting you to a great, universal spirituality that is beyond comprehension for all of us.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 8:32 AM CDT
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